Since August, the Trump administration has dispatched a large military presence to the Caribbean Sea.
The US military carried out a strike on a second Venezuelan boat this week, claiming that the ship was carrying “illegal narcotics” en route to America. Referring to the strike, US president Donald J. Trump said three “male terrorists” were killed and no American personnel were harmed. Earlier in September, another US-led strike targeted a boat off Venezuela. Similarly, Trump said that the ship was carrying illicit drugs and was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang. “This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests.”
Caracas has decried the increasing American military presence in the Caribbean and its recent actions targeting Venezuelan vessels as a deliberate provocation by the White House. “Some hope we will fall into the provocations that the U.S. deliberately makes to generate an open military confrontation,” Venezuelan interior minister Diosdado Cabello said.
Since August, the Trump administration has dispatched a large military presence to the Caribbean Sea as part of what the White House says is an initiative to counter drug cartels. The president directed the federal government to ramp up security measures to combat narco-terrorists and drug smuggling into the United States back in January. As part of this effort, US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth said that the United States intends to carry out additional strikes targeting drug traffickers that the White House designates as terrorists. The White House has also dispatched 10 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to Puerto Rico as part of this mission in the Caribbean.
In addition to the fighters, the United States has already deployed at least eight warships and one submarine to the Venezuelan coast. USS Gravely, USS Sampson, USS Jason Dunham, USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio, USS Fort Lauderdale, USS Lake Erie, USS Newport News, and USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul are all expected to reach the Caribbean in the near future.
Gravely, Jason Dunham, and Sampson are all Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. These ships are equipped with smaller radar cross-sections, making them more challenging for adversarial warships to detect. The crux of the Arleigh Burke-class is the Aegis Combat System, which is incorporated into the platform to enable it to launch, track, and evade missiles simultaneously. The Arleigh Burke-class ships also feature the Collective Protection System, which allows them to function in conditions contaminated by radiological, chemical, or biological materials. USS Newport News is a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarine in service with the Navy. This specialized platform is highly versatile and able to perform surface warfare, undersea warfare, mining operations, reconnaissance, intelligence missions, and carrier battle group support. Each boat in this class is armed to the teeth and equipped with a dozen Vertical Launch System tubes for firing Tomahawk cruise missiles and Mark 48 heavy torpedoes.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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